DxO Optics Pro

1.0 stars

"Working with DxO 4.0"

October 18, 2006  |   By fcbmuzik

Version: DxO Optics Pro 4.0

Summary

This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
I have worked and reviewed DxO Version 3.5 (see Hermansgallery.com)and given it an entusiastic tumbs up review. Version 4.0 is something else. I downloaded it a few weeks ago and it was trouble from day one. The graphic on 3.5 were clear and easy to work with. The graphics on 4.0 are difficult to read. They, (DxO) opted for a camera equipment look so we have a black background with gray or/and light blue slders wher the slider movement background is also black. Running the program in a 1024x768 screen setting, one gets very quickly tires looking for slider buttons, their positions and supposed direction. Other controls are as difficult to distingquis between the blsck/gray/blue color mix. There were a lot of changes. Working with the Presets, altering them or creating your own preset is cumbersome. There are now functions that are not explained such as AntiAC and Multiscan Denoise. Maybe it should read Multiscan De-Noise. They now want you to group the input images and you are forced to stick them into a INPUT file which must have a title or you can not go further. Version 3.5 let you pick the images and when done that batch was just processed and delivered to the Directory you specified. I do not like the creation of INPUT files here and there. I have enough problems keeping important files in the right place. You have three different ways to deliver the processed images to a file. Back to the INPUT or project file, to the Directory were they came from with an added suffix and to a selected directory on the hard disk. Two of the selection do not work. The only one working is the "Same directory were they came from with an added suffix." The other method/locations give an error message indicating the directory of destanation is a READ-ONLY directory. I have no clue what the problem here is but removing the READ-ONLY from the directory makes no difference so I was stuck with the only location left. Next, after picking images and being forced to put them into a project file, you start processing whether it is automatic, guided or expert and you find that the images are processed at double the time it used to take. The reason I discovered is that, after processing the six functions the routine goes in an unwanted function called "BlackWhite - Sepia" and it sits there for a period longer then the actual processing. It takes, on my computer which is a 1 Ghz amchine, 13 to 16 minutes to process one image. That is more than twice the time it took using version 3.5. I have tried to communicate with the DxO support who have send me acknowledgements but never came back to solve any of the problems.Emailing with DxO themselves, they acknowledge that there are problems and somehow indicated that I should buy a dual processer machine. The problem with the "BlackWhite - Sepia" process they know about but have yet to locate the problem. As for the notion that my 1 Ghz mchine is the blame, I own some very sophisticated software and all of it runs without errors although it may run somewhat slower as intented. Photoshop CS is one of them. Had I known what 4.0 can do to my patience, I would have waited as I like to suggest to anyone considering upgrading to 4.0. Enjoy 3.5!
Herman J Muller (hermansgallery@msn.com)

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